A study recently released in the Journal of Pediatrics, may indicate that junk food laws help fight obesity in children. The study analyzed data on 6,300 students in 40 states, by measuring their height and weight from fifth grade through eighth grade. The data was obtained from students in states that had strong laws governing snacks available in schools versus states that had no such laws.

The study found that students in the states that had strong laws governing snacks in schools, gained less weight than those students in states without such laws. Further, that the obese 5th grade children living in the states with strong laws, were more likely to reach a healthy weight by eighth grade than those living in the states without such laws.

Dr. Virginia Stallings, director of the nutrition center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, stated that, "This is the first real evidence that the laws are likely to have an impact." Dr. Stallings chaired an Institute of Medicine panel that urged standards for making snack foods and drinks sold in schools more healthy, but was not involved in the study. Although this one study is far from definitive in its conclusion, it is hard to deny that the cause and effect of junk food laws warrants closer examination.

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